In 2011 the workers of Vio.Me (Viomixaniki Metalleytiki) in Thessaloniki squatted their factory after the management had left.
Since then the collective of 10 people (ex-workers and 2 green-chemical engineers) autonomously produce bio-degradable ecological soap and detergents. A daily basic-democratic meeting from 7-9 a.m. manages the coop. Due to the fact that the former medium sized entreprise didn't officially announce bancruptcy, the legal status of the productions facilities is still a squat. That's why it is semi-legal to sell in Greece. Although the coop has an export license and ships its products to the rest of Europe. The place contains tons of semi-products and products of Viomixaniki Metalleytiki.
Vio.Me-Coop won a trial: The coop is authorised to sell the stock to its own benefit. In total. Not in tranches. Nobody in Greece is interested to buy tons of various partially outdated construction materials. Many small companies would love to purchaise one or the other of the bargains.
Twice a year a quasi fictive auction to sell the properties of is launched (recent: Nov. 2015). The minimum bid for the property which currently has the value of about 2 mio Euro, is 30 mio. Since the 30 mio are still the asset of Viomixaniki Metalleytiki, the clinically dead company is not forced to declare bancruptcy. Since almost 5 years the workers are officially on "Kurzarbeit 0 Stunden"/ on reduced hours - zero hours. Self-evidently they are not compensated by a short-time allowance. Therefore the cooperative members are still workers on strike who squat their factory. Vio.Me hosts a storage for donations for the refugees in the border area. Once a week a free clinic - small group of medical volunteers - practices on site. From time to time solidarity parties are launched. A multitude of solidarity groups in Europe and Latin America promote the survival of Vio.Me.
www.viome.org
